This story is a couple months old but I couldn’t find a whole lot of information about it on the web so I thought I would re-share it with you. A Lemoore man decided he liked the Transformers so much that he built a life size replica of the cartoon version of Bumblebee in his front yard.

“I’ve always been a fan of the Transformers,” Tom Rhoads Rhoads stated to the crew at mim. “And when my son was born I decided to make the statue.”

The statue stands at 18 feet tall and built from a used Volkswagen, yes that’s right a used Volkswagen, in this economy who can afford to chop up a new Camaro and besides some of us liked the cartoon characters better!

The statue took him and a friend a year to build in their spare time:

“Sometimes it seemed as if we would never get through it, all the parts spread out, but then it just came together.”

A crane had to hoist the 1200 lb robot onto its feet after the welding was completed. Its legs are made of steel and angle iron to keep it secure.

If you asked me, he should have killed two birds with one stone (sorry PETA) and made the gun in its hand be Megatron. We all know he was a lame gun in the cartoon version, right?

Stay tuned, as Tom’s next project is the semi truck in the back. I wonder what he has planned for that…..

[…] • Somebody finally took a stand against the crap Michael Bay Transformers, and built himself a life-size Bumblebee using a very real Volkswagen Beetle. It’s mighty without being, bizarrely disjointed, and has the old noble Tranny face, instead of the weird insectoid new ones. Only problem is, this thing doesn’t move, not even as much as Japan’s larger-than-life Gundam, so it’s technically not a “gadget.” [DailyStab] […]

[…] • Somebody finally took a stand against the crap Michael Bay Transformers, and built himself a life-size Bumblebee using a very real Volkswagen Beetle. It’s mighty without being, bizarrely disjointed, and has the old noble Tranny face, instead of the weird insectoid new ones. Only problem is, this thing doesn’t move, not even as much as Japan’s larger-than-life Gundam, so it’s technically not a “gadget.” [DailyStab] […]

[…] • Somebody finally took a stand against the crap Michael Bay Transformers, and built himself a life-size Bumblebee using a very real Volkswagen Beetle. It’s mighty without being, bizarrely disjointed, and has the old noble Tranny face, instead of the weird insectoid new ones. Only problem is, this thing doesn’t move, not even as much as Japan’s larger-than-life Gundam, so it’s technically not a “gadget.” [DailyStab] […]

[…] • Somebody finally took a stand against the crap Michael Bay Transformers, and built himself a life-size Bumblebee using a very real Volkswagen Beetle. It’s mighty without being, bizarrely disjointed, and has the old noble Tranny face, instead of the weird insectoid new ones. Only problem is, this thing doesn’t move, not even as much as Japan’s larger-than-life Gundam, so it’s technically not a “gadget.” [DailyStab] […]

[…] • Somebody finally took a stand against the crap Michael Bay Transformers, and built himself a life-size Bumblebee using a very real Volkswagen Beetle. It’s mighty without being, bizarrely disjointed, and has the old noble Tranny face, instead of the weird insectoid new ones. Only problem is, this thing doesn’t move, not even as much as Japan’s larger-than-life Gundam, so it’s technically not a “gadget.” [DailyStab] […]

[…] Man Build life-size Bumblebee Transformer [@] dailystab Share this on del.icio.usDigg this!Share this on RedditStumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUponShare this on TechnoratiPost this to MySpaceShare this on FacebookTweet This!Email this to a friend?Subscribe to the comments for this post? Tags: Art, Roadside Attractions, Statue, Transformers You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. […]